A Vaccine to Prevent Recurrence?
One of Susan Love's dreams in forming the Army of Women is that it will lead to a vaccination that protects us from ever getting breast cancer. That may be years away, but researchers at Brooke Army Medical Center, in San Antonio, Texas, are having some success in vaccinating breast cancer patients against the disease's return. The doctors tested the NeuVax vaccine in women who had been treated for early stage HER-2 positive breast cancer. After two and a half years, the vaccinated group not only had a lower risk of recurrence but were twice as likely to survive. The study was too small to draw significant conclusions, but the next round—which may involve more than 700 patients—could deliver news that women battling this disease have much better odds.
